When a Magician stumbles on a Fortune
by cafeso
Summary: But not in that way! Yosuke's just trying to be a good friend, that's all.


Yosuke was stuck with cleanup duty after having been caught sleeping in class. To make matters worse, his MP3 player had died on him halfway through and he was now pushing a broom down Yasogami's halls with silence as his only companion.

He had finished sweeping the main building and had started on the second floor of the Practice Building when his music stopped abruptly. He tried playing a song in his mind, but nothing was coming to him. Or rather, a lot of songs were coming to mind and that was the problem. They were all mixing up together like a song version of Mystery Food X.

He could try focusing on the lyrics and hope it straightens itself up. But the problem there was, what lyrics? Rise's songs weren't lyrical masterpieces, however even though he had listened to her songs a dozen times, he still hadn't memorized them. Some fan he was.

As he reached the stairs leading down to the first floor, he got the urge to start humming a track from an old video game he enjoyed. It was surprising just how easy it was remembering it. Then again, the best video game soundtracks were earworms. In fact, this was too good of an earworm.

The game in question was an old, 2D platformer by the name of "Hornet Hero". His father had bought him a copy as a birthday present many years ago. It wasn't a big name game in its time which was surprising considering his father had mentioned it was the last one in the store (probably the _only_ one). Then again, his father knew nothing about video games.

It was when he reached the doors to the band room that Yosuke realized that the music was still going. And it dawned on him that someone inside was playing the song. Even as he stood close to the entrance, the sound was faint, but clear. As to who was playing, that was still a mystery.

He leaned in close, hoping to hear something that could clue him in as to who was inside. A cough, a curse, heck, even a sigh. He leaned in closer, unaware of the broom getting in his way. The second he leaned further, his ear right on the door, he tripped, pushing the doors open and sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Oh crap!"

He really should have paid attention. One would think he was used to this sort of thing by now, but a bad fall was still a bad fall and bad falls hurt. Then again, good falls hurt, too. Why would there be good falls in the first place?

"Yosuke-senpai!?"

It was a low, calm voice that snapped his head upwards to its source. To say he was surprised to find Naoto staring back was a bit of an understatement.

"Whoa, Naoto-kun!? Were you the one playing that song?" He darted his eyes across the room, but they were the only ones there.

"You... heard that?" She remarked quietly, averting her eyes.

"Well, at first, I thought it was all in my head," he replied as he got up, dusting himself off, "but when I got closer, I realized it was coming from here."

"I see..." She had her keyboard in front of her, hands at her side, head hanging low.

If she was the one playing, then that meant that she had played the game before. Perhaps she might even be a fan.

Come to think of it, what was she interested in besides detectives and mysteries? He'd never really asked her and she'd never broadcast her interests like some crazy, kick-aggressive carnivore, ball-loving sports junkie, or book-crazy fishing enthusiast he knew. It's not like someone could like one thing so much without getting tired of it. What was her 'hidden' interest?

He blinked and shook his rapidly. Okay, that sounded wrong. Maybe it would be best if he tried asking nonchalantly.

"That song was interesting," He began, "mind if I ask where it's from?"

"Oh, that," she cleared her throat trying to regain her composure, but she still looked a little shaken up. "It's an old piece I'd stumbled across when I was child, nothing more."

"A child, huh?" he smirked, "Are you saying you're not one now?"

He expected her to perhaps reply with a witty remark, but she simply lowered her head and turned away. Actually, her shadow had made comments on how people treated her like a child so it probably stung a lot worse than he had anticipated.

"Sorry, sorry," he apologized, "that was going too far. It's just... I've heard that song before. It's from "Hornet Hero", isn't it?"

At the mention of "Hornet Hero", Naoto raised her head, eyes widened slightly in surprise. "You've heard of it?"

Yosuke chuckled, "Heard of it? It was one of my favorites growing up! Kind of a shame it didn't get a sequel."

"It was to be expected. "Hornet Hero" simply failed at gaining a large enough fanbase to secure one," she blushed and continued in a lower voice, "regardless of how many fan letters were sent in."

"I know, right? It got so overlooked by the more popular games!" Yosuke agreed, "None of my friends knew what I was talking about when I mentioned it! Oh, funny story actually, my dad had said it was the last one when he bought it and- Wait, what was that last part?"

Naoto recoiled in embarrassment and turned away.

It was surprising knowing that she was not only into the game, but also a fan devoted enough to send letters asking for a sequel. In all honesty, he had done the same, but he was sure her articulate and well-written letters were taken more seriously than his.

His eyes immediately widened at the personal revelation that she might be one of those gushing fans that lost all composure at the mention of their interests. That probably wasn't true, but it was cute imagining the very serious Naoto getting excited like that.

He shook his head once again and looked at her, hoping he hadn't noticed the odd series of gestures his face had gone through. It seemed she hadn't as her eyes lay on the electronic keyboard before her. He noticed, however, that the same downcast expression she had when he first 'entered' the room had returned. Part of him wanted to ask if something was wrong, but he thought it better to steer the conversation towards a happier direction.

"Hey, would you mind playing the song again?" He gave her a smile when she lifted her head towards him, "You know, for nostalgia's sake."

There was puzzlement in her eyes, but she nodded and inhaled deeply. As she lay her fingers on the keys, she let the breath out slowly as she began playing.

It was definitely "Hornet Hero" alright. The fast, upbeat tune that he could only describe as "jazzy techno" took him to a place where he triumphed as a hero, even if he did fall victim to a few pitfalls a couple of times before getting them down in one try. But when he did, man was it satisfying.

Eventually, the song came to an end and the nostalgic smile that he had through it all was shared by Naoto.

"That was great!" he exclaimed, "It reminded me of that one stage before the second boss, um, what was his name? Mega Dark Tortoise Tank? It was one of the only levels I beat rather easily and I think it was because of the song. So motivating!"

"You are correct and I agree" Naoto chuckled, "I assume it was because the game mechanics were ingrained in one's mind by that point and that difficult, second-to-last jump was easier to figure out."

"Right? Especially when you found out that you could jump during his Stinger Slam move in midair!"

"I had no idea you could do that," she remarked, "I merely aggravated the nearest enemy and used them to heighten my jump."

"Yeah, that works too, but I think the developers meant for you to learn that because there's a rare token to get that way."

"Interesting," she rubbed her chin, "I assumed the flight ability one earns later on was required for it."

"Wow, I thought the great detective would have figured out such a simple trick," Yosuke joked.

Naoto laughed softly, "I admit I am a bit of a stickler for rules a little too much. Trying something out of the ordinary like that would have gone against my principles."

"At least you got it easily," he replied, feigning frustration, "I lost so many lives trying to get it! Sometimes I was too late, other times too early. I showed them in the end though!"

"Are you sure the game didn't simply hand it to you due to your extraneous stubbornness?" Naoto jested.

"Hey, maybe the game was taken aback by my handsome looks and rewarded me for it," he ran a hand slowly through his hair jokingly.

"At a young age?" she raised an eyebrow.

"What can I say? I was just an early bloomer," He raised his hands in a flaunting manner and showcased his best smile.

The two stared silently at each other for a while before bursting into laughter.

"I guess that act was a little hard to keep up," Yosuke said after calming down.

"The best clowns laugh at themselves, Yosuke-senpai," she replied, regaining her composure.

"Hey!" he faked disappointment, "Well, at least I'm the best, right?"

Naoto tapped her chin in thought. "Perhaps 'best' was too strong a word."

"Ouch!"

The pair shared another moment of laughter before it was cut off by the beeping of Naoto's wristwatch.

"It's my alarm," she remarked dejectedly as she quickly gathered her things, "I must be going now, senpai."

"Oh," he stepped out of the way as she walked towards the door, "is it something important? Anything I could do to help?"

"No," she replied flatly.

Whatever it was she was headed off to take care of seemed like it was of great importance and Yosuke felt a little sad that he couldn't do anything to help. At the same time, he figured it could have something to do with her detective work and her employer couldn't afford any screw-ups. Still, he hoped he could have been of assistance in some way, however minor.

"Because," she stopped at the door and Yosuke stared at her, perplexed. His eyes widened in surprise as she graced him with the most sincere and genuine smile he had ever seen on her, "you have already given me more than enough help today. Thank you, Yosuke-senpai."

"Y-You're, um, wel...come...?" he stammered, watching her bow slowly and gracefully. What had he done to deserve this? He cracked a few jokes, talked about games, but that was something Yosuke Hanamura always did and it never earned _this._

She walked out the door, but not before smiling once again.

He stood in place trying to make sense of the events that had just unfolded. He joked, they laughed, she smiled, and then... she thanked him? His luck never yielded such results and he paced forward hoping to stumble onto an explanation.

"Oh dammit!" Yosuke yelped as he tripped yet again.

Well, he stumbled alright. Right on the same spot where he had dropped the broom. If clouds had silver linings, he had the opposite. At the very least, his luck was back to normal. He picked himself up with broom in hand, remembering why he was still at school, and resumed sweeping.

As he finished cleaning up and began his trip home, he got a text message from Naoto.

"THANK YOU FOR RELAXING CONVERSATION."

He chuckled. For such a smart person, she wasn't very bright when it came to texts. He wanted to reply with a welcome message and commenting that there was no need to yell, as well as a question asking what she was relaxed about, feeling slightly worried, but thought against it. Instead, he walked home feeling happy, believing in her to explain when she was more comfortable, and that he had unknowingly helped a friend feel better in his own klutzy, clueless way.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This just came about, late at night, after feeling sick as all hell, so if it reads like crap, that's why. Either way, it was enjoyable and perhaps someone will find it so, too. This is supposed to be just a dumb oneshot, yet I'm actually getting some ideas on how to continue it. But who knows. Being sick sucks ass and there's nothing else to do. Anything non-productive, I mean. Anyway, thanks for reading.


End file.
